20 Best 「music production」 Books of 2024| Books Explorer

In this article, we will rank the recommended books for music production. The list is compiled and ranked by our own score based on reviews and reputation on the Internet.
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Table of Contents
  1. Music Theory for Computer Musicians
  2. Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys, and Techniques
  3. Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science
  4. Dance Music Manual
  5. How Music Works
  6. Rick Rubin: In the Studio
  7. The Art Of Mixing: A Visual Guide To Recording, Engineering, And Production
  8. Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science
  9. Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio (Sound On Sound Presents...)
  10. The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Other 10 books
No.1
100
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No.2
87

Whatever your level of experience, the Dance Music Manual is packed with sound advice, techniques, and practical examples to help you achieve professional results. Written by a professional producer and remixer, this book offers a comprehensive approach to music production, including knowledge of the tools, equipment, and different dance genres.Get more advice and resources from the book's official website, www.dancemusicproduction.com.\n* Updated second edition includes sections on recording instruments and new chapters covering more dance music genres. * Examines all aspects of music production-from sound design, compression, and effects to mixing and mastering to publishing and promoting-to help you become a better producer. * The companion CD provides sample and example tracks demonstrating the techniques used in the book.

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No.3
87

Written by an award-winning, highly respected professional, Mastering Audio gives you a thorough introduction to the unique procedures and technical issues involved in mastering.Suitable for all levels of students and professionals, it is ideal for anyone who wants to increase their mastery of digital and analog audio: musicians, producers, A&R, mastering, recording, and mixing engineers.Fully updated to cover the latest technologies, Mastering Audio discusses audio philosophy and art: sequencing, levelling, processing; how to make a record album radio-ready; and mixing as it relates to mastering. Divided into five parts, the book begins with the basics--monitoring, mastering techniques, useful tutorials, and the fundamentals of dithering and decibels--then moves on to more advanced concepts, such as jitter and clocking, monitor calibration, and multi channel audio, miking, and acoustics. Leading-edge audio concepts are explained in an easy-to-grasp style.Including practical tips and real-world experiences, Bob Katz explains the technical detail of the subject in his informative and humorous style.

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No.4
87
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No.5
78

How Music Works

Byrne, David
McSweeneys Books

How Music Works is David Byrne’s remarkable and buoyant celebration of a subject he has spent a lifetime thinking about. In it he explores how profoundly music is shaped by its time and place, and he explains how the advent of recording technology in the twentieth century forever changed our relationship to playing, performing, and listening to music.Acting as historian and anthropologist, raconteur and social scientist, he searches for patternsand shows how those patterns have affected his own work over the years with Talking Heads and his many collaborators, from Brian Eno to Caetano Veloso. Byrne sees music as part of a larger, almost Darwinian pattern of adaptations and responses to its cultural and physical context. His range is panoptic, taking us from Wagnerian opera houses to African villages, from his earliest high school reel-to-reel recordings to his latest work in a home music studio (and all the big studios in between).Touching on the joy, the physics, and even the business of making music, How Music Works is a brainy, irresistible adventure and an impassioned argument about music’s liberating, life-affirming power.

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No.6
75

There is no greater enigma than Rick Rubin working in record production today. As mysterious personally as the Buddhist religion he practices, Rubin has made one thing crystal clear: the records he produces are sonically and stylistically beyond reproach. MTV has called Rubin the most important producer of the last 20 years,” while Rolling Stone ventured even further, deeming Rubin the most successful of any genre.” Without a niche, Rubin has taken greater risks than any producer in the record industry over the past quarter century. Pushing his artists into new territory has garnered Rubin seven Grammys, including Producer of the Year in 2007, and made him the most in-demand record producer working today. Now for the first time, Rick Rubin: In the Studio offers the behind-the-scenes stories of how Rubin created hit albums with such diverse legends as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Run DMC, Johnny Cash, the Beastie Boys, Audioslave, Tom Petty, Metallica, Danzig, Slayer, LL Cool J, The Cult, Weezer, the Dixie Chicks, Linkin Park, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Jay Z, Neil Diamond, Sheryl Crow, and Slipknot. This book chronicles his meteoric rise, from his early days as DJ Double R in the early ’80s, founding and running Def Jam Records alongside Russell Simmons from an NYU dorm room, discovering and producing the Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, to his transition in the early ’90s into a successful independent record executive, signing and producing the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash, to his role as the most influential producer of all time (currently as the co-head of Columbia Records), and his continued successes with rock/metal supergroups Audioslave, Linkin Park, and Metallica. This in-depth look at the life and times of Rick Rubin in the studio and beyond is a must-have for any music fan.

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No.10
73

The #1 New York Times bestseller."A gorgeous and inspiring work of art on creation, creativity, the work of the artist. It will gladden the hearts of writers and artists everywhere, and get them working again with a new sense of meaning and direction. A stunning accomplishment.” —Anne LamottFrom the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us.“I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” —Rick RubinMany famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, as he has thought deeply about where creativity comes from and where it doesn’t, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world. Creativity has a place in everyone’s life, and everyone can make that place larger. In fact, there are few more important responsibilities.The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments—and lifetimes—of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.

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No.11
73

In this prime collection of first-hand interviews, 37 of the world's top record producers share their creative secrets and hit-making techniques – from the practical to the artistic. George Martin reveals the technical and musical challenges of working with The Beatles, while Phil Ramone, producer for such artists as Billy Joel, discusses studio wall treatments. Offering real-world advice on everything from mics to mixing to coaching a nervous singer, producers interviewed include Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin), Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys), Alan Parsons (Pink Floyd) and more.

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No.12
72

All great music has a birthplace. Temples of Sound tells the stories of the legendary studios where musical genius and a magical space came together to capture some of the most exciting jazz, pop, funk, soul, and country records ever made. From the celebrated Southern studios of Sun and Stax, to the John Coltrane/Miles Davis sessions in producer Rudy Van Gelder’s living room, to Frank Sinatra’s swinging cuts at state-of-the-art Capitol Records, each of the 15 profiles in this book brings great music to life at the moment of its creation. With a trove of never-before-seen photographs and fascinating, all-new interviews with the musicians and producers who made the records, Temples of Sound is a rich inspiration for music fans.

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No.13
72

Recording Unhinged: Creative and Unconventional Music Recording Techniques dares you to “unlearn” safe record-making, to get out from behind the windshield, stick your head out the sunroof, and put the pedal to the metal! Sylvia Massy and her cohort of celebrity music industry producers, engineers, and recording stars discard fixed notions about how music should be recorded and explore techniques that fall outside the norm and yield emotionally powerful, incredibly personal, gut-wrenching, and even scary recordings. Joined by Hans Zimmer, Al Schmitt, Bruce Swedien, Jack Joseph Puig, Dave Pensado, Tchad Blake, Bob Clearmountain, Linda Perry, Michael Franti, Michael Beinhorn, Bob Ezrin, Geoff Emerick, and many others, this book has the stories, tips, recipes, photos, advice, diagrams, exercises, illustrations, and jokes that you won't find in any other instructional manual. And what about that cover? Recording Unhinged contains many eye-popping illustrations by Sylvia herself. As if being a celebrated producer isn't enough, Sylvia's iconic illustrations bring real and imaginary recording situations to life. Catchy Bass Lines? Engineering Marvels? How to Mic a Chicken?!! Do a swan-dive into the unknown and make studio magic with inspiration from Recording Unhinged.

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No.14
72

Modern Recording Techniques is the bestselling, authoritative guide to sound and music recording. Whether you’re just starting out or are looking for a step-up in the industry, Modern Recording Techniques provides an in-depth read on the art and technologies of music production. It’s a must-have reference for all audio bookshelves. Using its familiar and accessible writing style, this ninth edition has been fully updated, presenting the latest production technologies and includes an in-depth coverage of the DAW, networked audio, MIDI, signal processing and much more. A robust companion website features video tutorials, web-links, an online glossary, flashcards, and a link to the author’s blog. Instructor resources include a test bank and an instructor’s manual. The ninth edition includes: \nUpdated tips, tricks and insights for getting the best out of your studio An introduction to the Apple iOS in music production Introductions to new technologies and important retro studio techniques The latest advancements in DAW systems, signal processing, mixing and mastering

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No.15
72

The Mixing Engineer's Handbook

Owsinski, Bobby
Cengage Learning Ptr

Thanks to the revolution in affordable recording and mixing technology, more music is being written, produced, and mixed today than ever before. The mixer's art is now a unique blend of time-tested principles and skillful technique using the latest high-tech tools. If you're ready to learn today's art of mixing, this is the book for you. THE MIXING ENGINEER'S HANDBOOK, 3RD EDITION, is the latest update of the most popular book on audio mixing ever written (more than 150,000 copies sold). Popular producer/engineer, author, and teacher Bobby Owsinski covers all the fundamentals, breaking the mixing process down into easily understandable elements. He covers the things you need to know most, including the variety of mixing styles, the six elements of a mix, the rules for arrangement, and how to build a mix. You'll also learn the secrets of equalization and "magic frequencies," along with easy-to-grasp methods for adding effects, EQ'ing reverbs, sonic layering, calculating delay time, and much more. In addition to the solid instruction in today's mixing principles, you'll also find great advice in Bobby's interviews with top mixing engineers and producers. Getting a great mix is no accident; it requires a thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of the art. Read THE MIXING ENGINEER'S HANDBOOK to learn how it's done.

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No.16
72

What makes a distant oboe's wail beautiful? Why do some kinds of music lift us to ecstasy, but not others? How can music make sense to an ear and brain evolved for detecting the approaching lion or tracking the unsuspecting gazelle? Lyrically interweaving discoveries from science, psychology, music theory, paleontology, and philosophy, Robert Jourdian brilliantly examines why music speaks to us in ways that words cannot, and why we form such powerful connections to it. In clear, understandable language, Jourdian expertly guides the reader through a continuum of musical experience: sound, tone, melody, harmony, rhythm, composition, performance, listening, understanding-and finally to ecstasy. Along the way, a fascinating cast of characters brings Jourdian's narrative to vivid life: "idiots savants" who absorb whole pieces on a single hearing, composers who hallucinate entire compositions, a psychic who claims to take dictation from long-dead composers, and victims of brain damage who can move only when they hear music. Here is a book that will entertain, inform, and stimulate everyone who loves music-and make them think about their favorite song in startling new ways.What makes a distant oboes wail beautiful? Why do some kinds of music lift us to ecstasy, but not others? How can music make sense to an ear and brain evolved for detecting the approaching lion or tracking the unsuspecting gazelle? Lyrically interweaving discoveries from science, psychology, music theory, paleontology, and philosophy, Robert Jourdian brilliantly examines why music speaks to us in ways that words cannot, and why we form such powerful connections to it.\nIn clear, understandable language, Jourdian expertly guides the reader through a continuum of musical experience: sound, tone, melody

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No.17
71

How Music Works

Byrne, David
McSweeneys Books

How Music Works is David Byrne's buoyant celebration of a subject he has spent a lifetime thinking about. Drawing on his work over the years with Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and myriad collaborators?along with journeys to Wagnerian opera houses, African villages, and anywhere music exists?Byrne shows how music emerges from cultural circumstance as much as individual creativity. It is his magnum opus, and an impassioned argument about music's liberating, life-affirming power.

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No.18
71

*Updated with a new chapter on digital curation*How Music Works is David Byrne’s incisive and enthusiastic look at the musical art form, from its very inceptions to the influences that shape it, whether acoustical, economic, social or technological. Utilizing his incomparable career and inspired collaborations with Talking Heads, Brian Eno, and many others, Byrne taps deeply into his lifetime of knowledge to explore the panoptic elements of music, how it shapes the human experience, and reveals the impetus behind how we create, consume, distribute, and enjoy the songs, symphonies, and rhythms that provide the backbeat of life. Byrne’s magnum opus uncovers ever-new and thrilling realizations about the redemptive liberation that music brings us all.

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No.20
70

"With its gentle affirmations, inspirational quotes, fill-in-the-blank lists and tasks — write yourself a thank-you letter, describe yourself at 80, for example — The Artist’s Way proposes an egalitarian view of creativity: Everyone’s got it."—The New York Times"Morning Pages have become a household name, a shorthand for unlocking your creative potential"—VogueOver four million copies sold!Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery.The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors.A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life.

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